Phew! The rollercoaster Lib-Con coalition

While new MPs were settling in, Cameron and Clegg's regime was conducting government at 100 miles an hour

(epa)

After their public display of affection in the Downing Street Rose Garden on day one of the coalition government, David Cameron and Nick Clegg sealed their historic deal over a glass of red wine and a light supper. The Conservative Prime Minister – who has boasted of his culinary skills – cooked for his Liberal Democrat deputy in the more private surroundings of the Camerons' home in Kensington, west London, last Sunday.

For the two men, dining à deux, it was the first chance to relax and "get to know each other" away from the TV cameras, ministers and officials. In the mood of the austerity agenda that lies ahead, Mr Cameron did not break out the fine red but gave his guest a standard "bottle of plonk".

While they were political rivals, Mr Clegg refused dinner invitations from the Camerons for fear it would fuel talk of a pact being cooked up. But last Sunday, four days into the new coalition, they were finally able to eat an agreeable meal together.

They didn't relax for long. In the 11 days since their bargain was struck, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg have been on a rollercoaster of activity and innovation, often dragging unconvinced colleagues behind them.

Day one: Wednesday 12 May

The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats stumbled gradually into coalition in the days after an inconclusive election result. The sketched-out programme that their leaders presented in the Downing Street Rose Garden was, a Clegg aide admitted, "still full of pretty big holes". But, while fully formed policies were slowly emerging from the re-drawing board, Mr Cameron had decreed that the new regime could at least command the pace of its first few days, harnessing the Big Mo, as American politicos and several of Mr Cameron's inner circle call it – the breathless momentum designed to underline his leadership.

"We were all warned that the first month would be the worst," one member of the new Cabinet confessed last night. "I thought defending the basis of the coalition would be the hard part. But it has actually been keeping up with the sheer weight of demands to stamp ourselves on the department."

The press conference, with its combination of larky stagecraft and grim rhetoric about "big risks" and "seismic shifts", succeeded in imprinting the concept of partnership in the public mind. The composition of the developing Government, with Lib Dems taking almost a quarter of cabinet seats, along with their distilled programme for the Government, underlined that impression – but it also raised fears about friction to come.

Day two: Thursday 13 May

Less than 24 hours later, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg were leading their first cabinet meeting. After the Chancellor, George Osborne, stressed that tackling the £156bn deficit was his top priority, his colleagues were informed that restraint was to start at the top, with their own salaries. Outside the Cabinet Room, ministers followed the directive to seize the agenda. The Home Secretary, Theresa May, confirmed that identity cards would be scrapped. And, in the first evidence of significant horse-trading between the two partners, she said the Tory plan to cap the number of non-EU immigrants entering Britain would go ahead, while the troublesome Lib Dem "amnesty" had slipped off the radar.

Meanwhile, Mr Cameron went on a tour of Whitehall departments, starting with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, where he told staff that their new boss, the Lib Dem Vince Cable, was an "absolute star in terms of economic policy and economic thinking".

However, Lord Heseltine, the Tory former deputy prime minister, warned that inevitable public spending cuts would cause "terrible strains".

Day three: Friday 14 May

The chairman of the Worcester Liberal Democrats announced he had left the party because he felt "betrayed" by Mr Clegg. However, Alex Kear's resignation was overshadowed by wider protests about the coalition's proposal to raise the majority required to force an election, as part of their plans to introduce fixed-term parliaments. Tory Christopher Chope complained that the plan to require a 55 per cent parliamentary majority to dissolve Parliament was a "recipe for anarchy". Mr Cameron was already on a visit to the Scottish Parliament.

Further afield, the new Foreign Secretary, William Hague, was following the order to establish the coalition by visiting Washington for talks with the US Secretary of State. The talks were dominated by the "shared mission" in Afghanistan, but also touched on Iran.

Day four: Saturday 15 May

The stability of the new regime was undermined by the revelation that Mr Cable had told Gordon Brown repeatedly that he did not want to go into coalition with the Tories. The embarrassing disclosure came as Mr Clegg sought to defend his decision to spurn a "progressive" coalition government with Labour. He did, however, concede that his decision to side with the Tories had provoked "surprise and with it some offence". Mr Cameron, meanwhile, held talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at Chequers.

Day five: Sunday 16 May

The domestic concerns shackling Mr Clegg while his colleague was travelling the country were emphasised by the unwelcome intervention of his predecessor, Charles Kennedy. The former leader admitted he had refused to back the coalition deal. Later, Lib Dem activists "overwhelmingly" backed the deal. Mr Cameron, meanwhile, was able to plough on with ruling: announcing an audit of the Government's books after finding examples of "crazy" spending decisions in Labour's last year in power. He also announced a crackdown on top civil service bonuses. He then had lunch with armed forces chiefs at Chequers.

Day six: Monday 17 May

The Prime Minister was in Wales on the second leg of his round-UK journey. Mr Osborne pressed ahead with his financial plans, confirming at his first press conference that the coalition would hold its emergency Budget on 22 June – with the first £6bn of cuts being unveiled tomorrow.

Day seven: Tuesday 18 May

Mr Cameron was in Parliament to welcome new MPs, saying it was a "new start" for politics, and promptly underlined the point by taking his seat next to his new deputy, Mr Clegg. Civil service mandarins had obligingly revealed their concerns over Labour spending proposals.

The deputy had been busying himself with the stirring rhetoric of the New Politics, but he was eager to point out that the new Government is already delivering on its promises of change.

There has been little rest. On the seventh day, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg fleshed out the thinking behind the Tories' "big society" plan to voluntary and charitable organisations in Downing Street. The state, Mr Cameron said, was "often too inhuman and clumsy" to tackle the country's social problems; people should have more say over planning decisions and voluntary groups should be able to run public services.

On the eighth day, the Deputy Prime Minister was already promising "the biggest shake-up of our democracy since the Great Reform Act".

Day eight: Wednesday 19 May

Mr Clegg got into his stride, laying out proposals for fixed-term parliaments, an elected House of Lords and a referendum on changing the voting system. He said: "This Government is going to persuade you to put your faith in politics once again." But Mrs May was forced to deny that her party had "sold out" by agreeing to discuss the Human Rights Act with the Lib Dems, after the Tory plan to replace the legislation with a "British Bill of Rights" became an agreement to set up a commission to discuss the issue.

Day nine: Thursday 20 May

The two leaders officially unveiled their joint policy programme to backbench alarm about the amount given up as the price for government. Mr Cameron protected key manifesto pledges, including immediate spending cuts and scrapping much of Labour's "jobs tax", but at the cost of at least eight concessions, where Tory plans were dropped altogether or kicked into the long grass of reviews.

After the launch of the document at the Treasury, Mr Cameron and Mr Clegg walked back to Downing Street together. On the way, they encountered a class of seven-year-old children on a school visit to the seat of government. Both men decided to re-enact their No 10 doorstep picture, this time surrounded by schoolchildren. The pupils asked the PM and Deputy Prime Minister more prosaic questions than the media had offered minutes earlier, such as "How old are you?" and "Do you have a dog?".

Tory MPs had other concerns, as more than 100 of them voted against Mr Cameron's plans to "bounce" them into giving serving ministers voting rights on the backbench 1922 Committee. The proposal was voted through, but at the cost of further resentment from MPs already restive over the level of concessions to the Lib Dems. Aides to Mr Cameron denied that the ballot was him trying to "stamp his authority" on the group. "It is about leadership. He wanted to make it more functional. It wouldn't have made sense to leave it for two months."

Mrs May gained some goodwill with her decision to agree to an adjournment in the extradition case of computer hacker Gary McKinnon.

By then, after a brief visit to Northern Ireland, Mr Cameron was already projecting his image further beyond Westminster, with a visit to French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris, where he defended the Government's decision to keep Britain out of the euro.

Day 10: Friday 21 May

Mr Cameron's resolute line on Europe was repeated during a visit to Berlin, where he told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the UK would not agree to hand any more powers to Brussels. After inspecting troops on the red carpet, the Prime Minister said there was "no question" of him backing any treaty giving the EU more powers to shore up the eurozone. On the domestic agenda, the Prime Minister said he wanted to introduce lower taxes as soon as the nation's economic conditions made it possible. After the meeting and press conference in Berlin, Mr Cameron returned to his constituency of Witney, Oxfordshire, for his first MP's surgery as Prime Minister. "These things remain really important to him," said an aide. "He went from statesman, meeting President Sarkozy and Chancellor Merkel, to an ordinary MP discussing his constituents' concerns."

Back in the UK, Mr Clegg was handed new powers by sitting on eight out of nine cabinet committees. No 10 announced that ministers would be urged to travel by public transport rather than use their government limousines.

Suspicions of a weakening UK commitment to the Afghan mission emerged after it was confirmed that about 8,000 British troops based in Helmand province were to come under the operational command of the US.

Day 11: Saturday 22 May

No 10 announced that the Camerons would finally move into Downing Street, later this week. The family will live in the No 10 flat while No 11, where Gordon and Sarah Brown lived with their children, is being refurbished.

There was further confusion over Afghanistan as a delegation led by Mr Hague arrived in Kabul. Amid assurances that the new regime was looking at ways to accelerate Afghan troop training, the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, said he was seeking to pull out UK troops "as soon as possible". But International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said it was "crucial" to create a functioning Afghan state.

Domestically, the hum of activity has abated as ministers enjoy their first days off since taking up their new jobs. Given the pace the new regime has set for itself, it will not last long.